Meet the Author: Ruth Tittensor

Blackwell Bookshop
South Bridge, Edinburgh
6.30pm
Free but ticketed

Centuries of exploitation reduced the tree-cover of Scotland to tiny fragments by 1900. The desperate need of home-grown timber after the two World Wars led to a large-scale planting of coniferous trees from North America, increasing woodland cover from 6 percent to a remarkable 17 percent.

From Peatbog to Conifer Forest focuses on the associated social, agricultural and ecological changes to the Whitelee Plateau just south of Glasgow. In an in-depth Oral History the book documents the experiences of the community which lived and worked in the area, and of the officials whose job it was to buy the moorland and convert it to forest, changing the whole landscape and its ecology dramatically. More recently a heavier emphasis is placed on conservation, amenity and recreation for members of the public from the major urban conurbations not far away, and the Whitelee Plateau is now best known as the site of Europe's largest onshore windfarm.

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  £27.50
  From Peat Bog To Conifer Forest: An Oral History Of Whitelee, Its Community And Landscape - Ruth Tittensor - Paperback
  By 1900, only five percent of Scotland was tree-covered. During the 20th century, large-scale planting of coniferous trees significantly enlarged the area of woodland. This text focuses on the associated social, agricultural & ecological changes to the Whitelee Plateau, where Ayrshire, Lanarkshire & Renfrewshire meet.

This event is ticketed, but tickets are FREE. Tickets are available from the front desk at Blackwell. For more information please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8206 or events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk